Pride and Parchment
by Jadeblade33
Summary: After the war, Hermione takes time to sort out her life before returning to Hogwarts as a member of the staff. Does she really love Ron? Or will she find someone else....
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Hermione Granger was going mad. She was torn between so many different emotions and was having difficulty coping with the many feelings that had been bombarding her since the conclusion of the war. The more powerful ones included feelings of relief, happiness, sadness, loneliness, uncertainty, and a powerful need to go back home. It had been a very long time since she had last seen her parents and her last visit with them had been short. She was just glad that they hadn't been targeted by death eaters and murdered. She needed to go home. Here her world was slowly falling apart. Voldemort was gone forever; she had gotten O's in all of her NEWT exams and had no idea what she was supposed to do next. She needed to leave for awhile to reassemble and realign her life now that it didn't revolve around the existence of a raving madman.

With profound sadness she packed up all her things for the last time and placed them in her trunk. She looked around the dormitory one last time and tucked the image into her memory. She shrunk her things so that they would fit into her pocket and kept her wand close at hand. She went down the stairs where she found Harry and Ron waiting for her. They gave her a brief hug and without saying much walked her to the entrance of Hogwarts.

At first they had been upset at her. Ron had wanted her to stay with them a bit longer at Hogwarts, and then had wanted her to stay with them at the Burrow. She explained that she needed to see her parents and when he suggested that she could visit her parents for a week or two and then stay with the Weasley's for the rest of summer vacation. She gruffly refused, becoming impatient with him, which of course upset Ron even more.

"But what will I do without you 'Mione? We've always been together, all three of us. Why are you leaving us now? Where will you go? I thought that our relationship meant something to you, but now, when we can finally spend time together, you're leaving?"

She didn't want to fight him or hurt him. She knew that he wanted to date her, possibly even marry her, but she wasn't sure about her feelings for him. She knew that coming from a big family with lots of brothers and Ginny, that he would want a large family of his own. She knew that she wasn't especially attractive and that her intelligence intimidated a lot of her peers. But she didn't want to rush into marriage and children with the first boy that made her stomach flutter at times.

Hermione wanted to go and travel and get experience in the world. Magic was wonderful and amazing but she had lived without knowing about its existence for a major part of her life and she felt a bit burnt out. She had some muggle money saved that was her college fund but she felt that she needed an extended vacation, and figured that she could work odd jobs here and there and that if she still wanted to go to college she would.

She met Professor McGonagall at the bottom of the staircase. She smiled and gave each of the boys a hug and told them that she would write. McGonagall walked with her to Hogsmeade briefly asking her what her plans were. McGonagall could see how the end of the war and loss of many of her friends had affected her. The young woman that stood before her had grown thin and worn from the stress and had faint purple circles beneath her eyes. She thought that it was a good idea for her to go traveling and to get some breathing room away from the two boys that were constantly at her side. Sometimes in order for young people to grow up they need time on their own to experience things for themselves without the influence of their friends. She gave Hermione a hug at the gate, wished her luck and watched her apparate outside the castle gate.

This was the third week that Hermione would be spending with her parents and already she was anxious to leave. She loved them both very much but without realizing, she had gotten to the point in her life where she would never call the house where her parents lived, her home. They had converted her bedroom to an extra office and during the time she spent there, she never felt truly comfortable. She had difficulty sleeping in a strange bed, in an eerily foreign place. It had taken awhile for her parents to adjust to her presence in their home. She had missed them, but the more she thought about it, it was that she had missed being a child more. As a child, she didn't have to think about friends who had been murdered in the war, she didn't have to make decisions about her life; she didn't have to worry about breaking Ron's heart and losing his friendship forever. She had wanted to be young again, had wanted her parents to pick her up, hold her in their arms and makes everything right. But that would never happen and she just had to deal with it.

She really didn't have any solid plans, but she knew that she needed to get away to gain some perspective. She packed as much as she could carry on her back, said goodbye to her parents, who told her that they would always love her, and got on the first plane that she could catch.

That plane happened to go to the United States. She traveled across the country, staying in cheap motels, traveling by bus to the next city. It was an exhilarating blur of excitement and adventure. But eventually her funds dwindled and she desperately needed some new clothes. Somehow she ended up in a small town in Colorado, made friends with the owner of the small bookstore in town and settled down working at the bookstore and staying in the small apartment that was above it. She got to know all of the residents of the town, and finally realized that she was comfortable and happy living this quiet life surrounded by friendly people and books. Using snail mail, she sent a letter to her parents telling them of some of her adventures, and gave them the address of her apartment above the bookstore. Life passed by at a comfortable pace. She had plenty of time to run the bookstore, organize and clean, go grocery shopping, cook and found time to delve in a good book that she borrowed from the bookstore or town library.

That Christmas she sent a package of American treats to her parents and included gifts and letters that they were to send on to Harry, Ron and Ginny. A day after Christmas she received a package from her parents with a new quill set, some money and letters from her friends. Each contained a plea asking her to come back home to England but it seemed that in her absence everyone was pretty busy establishing their own lives. Harry and Ron had signed on with professional Quidditch teams and Ginny was finishing school.

It was on the day of the first snow of the New Year that Hermione realized that she had fallen in love with this place, the mountains and pines and people. She was not ready to go back, not yet at least.


	2. Chapter 2

Letters

Three Years Later…

The book business was doing well. In the small town the shop was popular. Many of the residents enjoyed picking up a new book, sharing a relaxed conversation with Hermione, or reading in one of the many comfortable chairs that were scattered through the store and out in the store's comfortable backyard garden. Hermione loved her job. She had made many friends and greatly enjoyed their company. She loved the delicate smell of books mixed with the aroma of green growing things that would waft through the open windows.

She had casually dated a couple of charming men over the past year, but as soon as they figured out that she wasn't looking to permanently settle here and wasn't quite ready to make a permanent commitment, instead became fast friends that she would drink a beer or two with on the weekend.

It was the beginning of summer in Colorado and Hermione loved it. It wasn't too hot and a light breeze carried in sounds of children playing outside. She was sitting on a small comfortable sofa in front of the window and was reading some letters that she had just picked up from the post office. The first was from Ginny; Hermione opened it eagerly and began reading the small neat cursive. Ginny was studying to be a mediwitch. She was at the top of her class and on schedule to graduate early. Her current letter was describing how much she both enjoyed and hated her summer classes and internship. She kept mentioning one particular idiot that drove Ginny mad with his careless mistakes and inconsiderate comments. 'I give her two weeks, and then she'll be telling me that he took her out to dinner and is actually a charming guy' Hermione thought to herself. All of the men that Ginny seemed to be interested in had one thing in common. They were jerks. Even Harry, who over time had made too many excuses for his not being able to spend time with Ginny until she caught him with another woman. She happened to walk into a small secluded restaurant where he was having an intimate dinner with a tall, blonde, buxom fan girl when he was supposedly at a conference. When she confronted him and he made yet another excuse how she was a reporter from the newspaper who happened to be at the conference, Ginny decided that she had had enough and left him. She then decided to spend all her time studying wizard medicine. That was about two years ago and every man that she had met since then had not given her the respect that she deserved.

The next envelope was from Neville Longbottom. It was a wedding invitation to his and Luna's wedding in September. Hermione was slightly surprised that the first person from her graduating year to be married was Neville, all of the school gossipers were certain that it would have been Harry or Ron to be the first to settle down. But she knew that he and Luna had been dating ever since the war had ended and now that Luna was old enough, it made sense that they were getting married. Neville was working at Hogwarts as Professor Sprout's assistant and would probably take her place when she retired. Luna had become Editor in Chief for the Quibbler after she had graduated. Hermione figured that it would be nice to take a quick vacation to England in September; she could ask for a week or so off from her bookstore duties and would have enough time to visit Ginny, Harry and Ron. She took out her Calendar and made a note to herself to ask Melinda, the owner of the store, if she could take a week off for the wedding. She was sure that she could, she just thought that she should ask right away.

The next two letters were from the boys. They were polite and boring as usual. They were both grumbling about summer training and both politely asked if she was in good health, if she had any plans of returning to England for the summer, both offering her places to stay. She did often feel pangs of homesickness, but it wasn't for her parents' house, it was for Hogwarts, it was for magic.

She went over to her small desk and grabbed several stamps, envelopes, a pen, and several pieces of paper. She called Melinda asking about the week in September and was granted as much time as she needed. She then wrote a letter to Neville offering congratulations to both he and Luna and told him that she would be there for the ceremony and reception. Next, she wrote letters to Harry and Ron telling them that she couldn't take time off during the summer as it was one of the busiest seasons for booksellers, but she told both of them that she would see them in September for Neville and Luna's wedding.

She then wrote a letter to Ginny casually talking about how she was glad that Neville and Luna were getting married, asking if Ginny would take her shopping for a nice dress in September when she would be there and if she could stay at Ginny's flat for the week explaining that had to have an excuse not to stay with Harry or Ron or at the burrow. She sealed and stamped all the letters and walked downstairs to the post office, inhaling all the wonderful scents of the summer evening.

The next day at she was waiting on patrons in the bookstore when one familiar customer, an older man named Samuel who was an avid birdwatcher came in from the backyard sounding excited.

"Miss Hermione, did you know that there is a rather beautiful Northern Hawk Owl sitting in your garden?" He would often come into the store telling her of beautiful birds that he would see in the garden. She finished ringing up the customers, excused herself and followed Samuel into the backyard garden. The owl was sitting on a small fountain sipping some water and glared intently at her as soon as she walked outside. She was slightly startled by the bird, with its bright yellow predatory eyes.

"Oh wow Samuel, you have found quite a beauty, but if you would excuse me, I should get back inside" she said as he smiled kindly at her. She retreated into the store and asked Aidan, Melinda's nephew if he would mind watching the store while she went upstairs for a moment. He didn't, so she discreetly retreated to her apartment upstairs. She sat down and drank a glass of water and looked out the window. The owl was still perched on the statue and as she looked at it, it swiveled its head and stared back at her. Samuel must have gone back inside, so she opened the window and surprisingly, the bird flew inside and landed on her small kitchen table. She fetched a bit of lunch meat from the fridge and fed it to the ferocious looking bird. It ate it graciously, ruffled its feathers leaving one or two on the table, and stretched out its leg. Sure enough there was a letter tied to its leg. She gently took it off, said thank you, and watched it fly out the window. She looked at the letter and immediately noticed the familiar cursive handwriting and could feel the familiar seal on the back. She tore open the letter immediately, anxious to read what the headmistress had written to her.

"Dear Miss Granger,

I hope that this letter finds you well in the United States. It has recently come to my attention that several members of the staff feel that enough time has passed since the end of the war and have notified me of their wishes to retire. Many feel that any doubts the community may have had about my capabilities as headmistress have since dissolved and feel that I should now select new persons who would express undeniable loyalty toward the school and toward me.

One such person who has expressed wishes to retire is Madame Pince. Knowing your affinity for books, talent for research, and personality, I would like to offer you the position of school librarian. Others have told me that they feel that you are too young and inexperienced, but I feel that no one could do a better job than you. It would be a great responsibility and would take time and effort to establish yourself among the students but I know that you would be up to the challenge.

However, if you wish to remain in the United States, I completely understand. Madame Pince has agreed to stay until a replacement can be found. If this is not the case, you are welcome to move in at any time. Rooms have already been set aside for you should you choose to accept my offer. I am greatly looking forward to hearing from you, whatever your decision may be.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall"

Hermione read through the letter three times, not believing what she had read. She loved Colorado, the people, the bookstore, but perhaps it was time to return to the one place she felt she could truly call home.

**Note: **Hi thanks for reading! If you like what you're reading or have any suggestions for me please let me know.


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